[CIMC-working] FW: [Imc-dmwg] roll call, list background, effective networks and
more
Chris Kaihatsu
ckaihatsu at myrealbox.com
Wed, 25 Dec 2002 02:34:47 -0600
------ Forwarded Message
From: Sheri Herndon <sheri@indymedia.org>
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:47:44 -0800
To: otted <otted@autistici.org>, imc-dmwg@lists.indymedia.org
Cc: ana nogueira <ana@riseup.net>
Subject: [Imc-dmwg] roll call, list background, effective networks and more
hi everyone,
it's been a while :)
maybe it's time to start using this list again? be great to check in
with folks who haven't spoken up in a very long time.
thanks otted for an infusion of new and good energy, maybe it will
help this list get a bit more mobilized. or perhaps we've had the
hiatus that the network obviously needed and we can now move into the
next stages. i completely agree that this list is really critical,
because of it's particular focus - decision-making working group.
summary
* roll call
* brief background to list
* effective networks quote
* imc network assessment outline
* imc-dmwg wiki
roll call:
sheri here from seattle. i think most of the people on this list
know me, but maybe more people have joined the list and have not
introduced themselves (bad practice for a "working group" list) so
here goes. i am involved with the seattle imc since the wto and
involved in many different aspects of the global network. i have
been a part of this group when it started up because we need some
kind of governance structures and process beyond the principles of
unity. also, we need a really positive, well facilitated
(self-facilitated) and focussed place to have a healthy discussion
about these network governance issues.
background:
i think all of the people who have been on this list from the
beginning all felt the same way you did. in fact i can pretty much
assure you we did. this list was created after the san francisco
april 2001 gathering and we were very excited. alot of good work went
into how we can organize ourselves into a network more coherently.
we never were thinking we had the one solution, but rather ideas for
the steps to get us to "think more like a network". and to
communicate more effectively as a network.
i think that many of the people who were active from that time might
have some ideas about why the process didn't move forward and i hope
that we don't just jump into the next phase without evaluating and
assessing why we weren't able to move forward before. perhaps the
timing is getting more perfect, but we have greater challenges than
we did 20 months ago when we were alot smaller. as we continue to
grow without thinking about these issues, i think it makes it harder
and harder. as many on this list can attest, we had a particular
mission and perhaps that needs to be revisited in light of alot of
changes over the past 20 months.
effective networks:
here's something i've just recently stumbled on about networks. i
think it is really important to think about what indymedia is. and
alot has been written about networks but i really think as we begin
to think about how we self-govern ourselves as a decentralized
network, it's good to think about what it really means to be a
network and where are our weak areas and what are the priorities for
taking steps to enable us to be more effective.
QUOTE:
An effective network depends on many factors and understanding these
factors will be key to improving the existing civic intelligence and
to anticipating and countering any threats to it. Probably the most
important pattern to keep in mind is consciousness of the network
itself. To a participating individual or organization, this means
that they need to be an active, respectful and intelligent member of
the network. They also must know that the network is in some sense
alive; it must be sustained as well as used. Although some
competition exists between members or nodes in the network(s) or
civic intelligence, success in whatever endeavor will depend to some
degree on others. This will vary according to the skill, interests
and philosophical outlooks of the individual members. Providing
ideas, contact information, references or other information that
other members of the network can use is an important way to
contribute to the network. Discussion among network participants
helps identify critical issues and resolve internal divisions. The
discussion of issues also lays the groundwork for the important
transition from a discussion orientation to an action orientation.
Projects provide an important focusing mechanism as an "opportunity
structure". Finally, the networks should be accessible; important
democratic interchanges take place at the margins of power and these
'marginal' political settings should be encouraged to grow and also,
to be integrated with.
END QUOTE.
i don't have the source for this quote; still tracking it down.
imc network assessment outline:
also, here are a few other interesting things that chris burnett put
together using the rand corporation's levels of assessment of a
network. even though the rand corporation is a right wing military
think tank (it has this component to its work), some of the
researchers have focussed specifically on networks, particularly
following the zapatista uprising. and before that i guess. networks
are one of the new emerging social forms of organizing on line.
IMC Network
Assessments for Development
1. Organizational
A. All Channel Network recognition (Is this what we are?)
B. Process Assessment
1. Decision Making
2. Responses to Principles/Criteria
C. Capital Assessment (servers, hardware, equipment)
D. Economic Assessment (finances, locations, accounts)
E. Political Assessment (state repression, attacks, node organizing
strategies)
F. ?
2. Narrative
A. Documentation projects
B. Outside coverage and analysis (media, academic, etc.)
C. ?
3. Doctrinal
A. Mission Statement
B. Principles of Unity
C. Criteria for Membership
D. Open Publishing
E. ?
4. Technological
A. Communications Assessment (lists, regional communications, face to
face, etc)
B. Server Distribution
C. Bandwidth Assessment
D. ?
5. Social
A. Contact Database Assessment
B. Volunteer and full time organizers Assessment
C. All-Channel Network Collaboration (AKA IMC allies)
1. Mutual aid (labor, capital, solidarity)
2. Communication Channels
D. ?
Quotes from Networks, Netwars, and the Fight for the Future by
Ronfeldt and Arquilla
Organizational level - its organizational design
Narrative level - the story being told
Doctrinal level - the collaborative strategies and methods
Technological level - the information systems in use
Social level - the personal ties that assure loyalty and trust
The strength of a network, perhaps especially the all-channel design,
depends on its functioning well across all five levels. The strongest
networks will be those in which the organizational design is
sustained by a winning story and a well-defined doctrine, and in
which all this is layered atop advanced communications systems and
rests on strong personal and social ties at the base. Each level, and
the overall design, may benefit from redundancy and diversity. Each
level's characteristics are likely to affect those of the other
levels.
These are not idle academic issues. Getting a network form "right" -
like getting a hierarchical or market form "right" - can be a
delicate enterprise. For practitioners trying to organize a new
network or adjust one that already exists, various options may merit
consideration - and their assessment should assure that all the
organizational, narrative, doctrinal, technological, and social
levels are well-designed and integrated.
imc-dmwg wiki:
we don't have an imc-dmwg wiki so i'm going to set that up. it will
be really useful for compiling the background documents and
information while looking to different issues we are currently facing
and possible models that might work.
sorry for the long email but all these ideas were flowing.
be great to see who is here and check in.
amor
sheri
At 8:59 PM +0100 12/16/02, otted wrote:
>hi all
>
>here otted, from imc italy
>i subscribed since some weeks, sorry for posting my roll call now
>and not before but
>half i forgot and half i had no time ;)
>
>i imagined a lot of traffic in these lists, and istead i see very
>very few mails.
>i hope these can be lists of intensive works, because i think
>they're necessary in developing indymedia.
>anyway, i'm here ;)
>
>two infos
>i'm from italy imc, subscribed to other international lists from some months.
>i'm involved into different projects into cyberspace (connected
>above all with italian and european people) and i'm into indymedia
>project through italian lists since two years, more or less.
>
>that's all
>
>guidance to everybody
>and molti baci
>(alotofkisses)
>
>
>--
>
>>> otted
>"niente. un vuoto grigio.
>nessuna matrice. nessuna griglia.
>nessun cyberspazio"
>
>_______________________________________________
>Imc-dmwg mailing list
>Imc-dmwg@lists.indymedia.org
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-dmwg
--
In sum, we are an army of dreamers, and therefore invincible. How
can we fail to win, with this imagination overturning everything. Or
rather, we do not deserve to lose.
-- Subcomandante Marcos
------ End of Forwarded Message